1. Related Field
Various embodiments of the invention pertain to the field of orthodontic care management and more particularly to a comprehensive electronic system for managing administrative (e.g., office and practice management) and clinical (e.g., diagnosis and treatment) care data. In particular, various embodiments comprise an interactive three-dimensional tooth chart model that may be populated with a variety of elements, manipulated to simulate various perspectives and treatment impacts, interfaced with any of a variety of care or practice management data, and/or embedded within patient reports and correspondence.
2. Related Art
Providing quality and efficient medical care requires an effective medical practice management system. Practice management systems have generally encompassed at least the storage, retrieval, analysis, and transmittal of patient records, as well as the scheduling and billing for associated appointments, diagnoses, and treatments. While some practice management systems provide such practice management capabilities in a consolidated, even electronic form, traditionally many of these functions have been performed by separate systems and/or entities, thus introducing inefficiency and potential inaccuracy into the provided medical care.
Still further, even where consolidated or electronic form practice management systems are provided, the communication of diagnosis and treatment data remains less than ideal. For example, consider that the key to treatment and quality results in the field of orthodontics is the proper placement and manipulation of a variety of elements (e.g., brackets, elastics, arch-wires, and the like) upon a patient's teeth. Time consuming options include taking plaster models of a patient's upper and lower jaws and using the same to create realistic physical and/or digital models of teeth upon which a treatment plan is first applied, for subsequent transfer to the patient's actual teeth. Oftentimes, such options are not only time consuming, but also costly.
In such practices, treatment may be tracked and recorded on standard two-dimensional tooth charts. These standard tooth charts are not always intuitive to orthodontists and their attendant staff. Since it is important to track the treatment plan over time, it would be advantageous to provide an improved tooth model that allows orthodontists and their staff to maintain an accurate and intuitive record of the placements of various brackets, elastics, and/or arch-wires over the course of the treatment. Such a model would advantageously not only record placements from prior appointments, but also provide placements for future appointments.
The standard tooth chart is also disadvantageous when used to explain the diagnosis and treatment plan to a patient and/or the patient's parent or guardian. In particular, after leaving the orthodontist's appointment, the patient and oftentimes the patient's parent or guardian, are expected to remember the exact position of various elastics and other hardware components. Since these elastics and hardware components are often removed when the patient eats or brushes and flosses his or her teeth, it is important that the patient reapply the elastics and hardware components to the correct brackets and in the correct manner. Working from memory or using a standard tooth chart does not always result in the correct placements. As such, it would also be advantageous to provide systems and methods by which patients can more readily and accurately reapply elastics and other hardware.